No Rest for the Weary
by Youkai-ChoGonou
Summary: After the first movie, what happened to Sammael? This ancient evil wreaks havoc on Newark while Hellboy, Abe Sapien, and Liz Sherman attempt to stop the Hound of Resurrection. Semi-movieverse
1. Chapter One: Aftermath

**AN**: A few things to think about while reading… This takes place after the first movie. I based the characters off of a mixture of the animated movies and the first Hellboy movie. So they share traits from both since I don't know what they're really like in the comics. This isn't a romance fic. It's an action fic. There may be a few little 'moments' here and there, but no full blown relationships. I don't believe Abe needs a respirator in the comics, so I've omitted that. I believe Liz had red hair in the comics, so I just didn't define a color, simply 'dark'. I've heard that Abe doesn't have the ability to read minds in the comic. I have no idea if this is true or not but I like the ability so I left it be. And so on…

The idea came from what happened to Sammael since we never really saw them 'deal' with him. They sort of just abandoned him and went after Rasputin. I considered that with Rasputin gone, his resurrection might be null but for the sake of my fic, we'll pretend we didn't think of that. This is strictly for enjoyment purposes. Enjoy my first ever Hellboy fic.

Also, no beta reader. (For some reason I keep calling 'Abe' 'Abel'. I've tried to make sure I don't type it but one or two might have slipped through. I apologize.)

**Helboy: No Rest for the Weary**

**Chapter One: Aftermath**

A large mirrored truck pulled up behind a fairly larger building cloaked in the darkness of the night. The back doors exploded open and no sooner had the set of double doors swung out of the way than a tall red demon and a slender blue-skinned humanoid rushed out followed by a dark haired woman with a nose stud and solid black attire. Commands were being shouted from inside the gargantuan truck but as it would seem they fell on deaf ears. Even the female flicked her cigarette over her shoulder and waved a goodbye at the now stuttering man.

"Abe, what've you got?" The human female asked rushing up beside the slender blue fish man. Her long hair swayed and brushed her shoulders as they jogged down the alleyway.

Just as the female had asked her question, Abe was pulling his glove back on. "There are at least two of them nearby. Meaning they're certain to have a nesting ground near here as well."

"That's what I like to hear. Killin' two Stinkys with one stone." Hellboy finished his sentence by snapping the chamber of his Samaritan closed. "So, all we gotta do is take care of these suckers, scorch their eggs and have dinner? Sounds like a plan." He slipped his stub of a cigar into the pocket of his tan leather coat before taking off quickly ahead of Abe and Liz. "You two take the back alley and cut 'em off." He shouted behind to them.

Abe let out a soft little sigh and slipped his pistol out of his holster. He'd given up arguing with the large red demon but it was obvious neither he nor Liz favored the idea of Hellboy running head first into a fight. Hellboy had sent them to 'cut them off' in hopes that he could defeat them by the time Abe and Liz had a chance to get there. Despite their unvoiced objections they complied with Hellboy's request and took a sharp right to circle around behind.

Hellboy stopped at the entrance to the alleyway and noted the somewhat random puddles slopped on the ground and against the walls. Stinky had been here. Red held up his Samaritan and slowed to a walk, looking around for the smelly creature. "Here Stinky, Stinky, Stinky…" He coaxed in a low voice. As he walked he heard movement behind him and whirled around, aiming his large gun but to his frustration there was nothing there. He heard the movement back on the other side once more and whirled back around to face forward. The red demon came face to face with Sammael. The beast snapped its slobbery jaws. At the same moment, Hellboy fired three rounds right down Sammael's throat, causing it to screech and stumble backwards. As it tried to leap away in a temporary retreat, Hellboy snatched one of its front legs and swung the creature head first into the nearest wall.

Abe merely glanced back hearing the three shots fired in succession. Unfortunately, that moment of distraction caused him to run right into the second Sammael. Liz called out his name but the warning came a moment too late. The large hulking demon effortlessly swatted the slender Icthyo Sapien out of the way. Abe's body collided with the dumpster and his gun skittered across the cement. The frail fish man tucked and rolled to the side as Sammael leapt to pounce on him like a cat on a mouse. He snatched up his pistol and fired a few shots into the Hound.

Liz stood back watching as her companion dodged the massive creature's assaults. Her hands were alight with fire and she was waiting for an opening in which Abe was the appropriate distance from the creatures, not wanting to scorch her fishy friend as well. "Abe! Out of the way!" She called to him.

"Ah, yes." He replied dodging another swiping arm. "Easier said than done." The slender blue-skinned male could currently do nothing but dodge each of Sammael's brutish attacks. The demon was relentlessly stalking Abe, not allowing him to get more than a few feet away before attempting to pounce again. One of the creature's attacks struck Abe in the shoulder. Those sharp talons left three deep gouges in the smooth blue skin from which the dark blue blood began to trickle. The bright side to this attack was it sent Abe sprawling to the ground and gave him a chance to get far enough away from the monster for Liz to act.

Perfectly in sync with Abe's movements, Liz immediately jumped into action. Her entire body became engulfed in flame as well as Sammael's. The hulking creature began to thrash and screech in pain. Liz intensified the flames. Her eyes seemed to glow equally as bright with the fire. Finally, Sammael fell to the ground as nothing but a pile of cinders and Liz doused her flames. She wobbled slightly only to be caught in Abe's arms.

"I will begin searching for the nest. You should probably assist Red." Abe said softly, trying to ignore the slight fluttering feeling he felt in his stomach as he held Liz.

Liz looked up into those blue eyes, a bit lost for a moment. She seemed to snap out of her little stupor when Abe's nictating membrane slid across his eyes to moisten them. The long haired woman nodded and stood up, supporting her own weight. "What about your arm?"

"Ah, I will have it looked at when we return." Abe answered and shook some of the blood off his webbed fingers. It was then that he noticed the smear of blue blood in Liz's clothing left there when he caught her. "I'm sorry." He apologized and pointed to the bloodstain. Liz merely shrugged. Another couple shots rang out and that was all it took to set the two into action. Liz rushed in the direction of the shots and Abe began attempting to sense the eggs.

As Liz whipped around the corner she spotted Hellboy and Sammael tussling on the ground. There seemed to be a large tongue wrapped around the red demon's neck. Sammael continued to slash at Hellboy's tough hide while at the same time, Hellboy kept striking Sammael in the jaw with his stone right hand grunting things like, "Why – Won't – You – Die?" and "Let – Me – Go – Dammit!" Each word was enhanced with a strike of his fist. Liz couldn't help but notice the similarities between Hellboy and Sammael. She shook the thought out of her head and called out to her companion.

"HB! I'll take care of him. Just hold him still." As she spoke her body erupted in flames and she concentrated her efforts on Sammael. She had no need to worry about Hellboy, already knowing he wouldn't be harmed by her flames.

"Oh yeah. No problem." Hellboy grumbled sarcastically then grabbed tightly onto Sammael's tongue. As he did so, the Hound of Resurrection began to thrash and attempted desperately to get free. Their bodies caught fire making the demon all the more frantic. "Oh, now you wanna get off me, huh? Well too bad, Sammy." Hellboy gave him another smack in the face just for good measures.

Meanwhile, Abe was descending into the sewers slowly to locate the nest. The large clump of eggs was easily located. But it wasn't the clump of eggs that worried the fish man. Not at all. As a matter of fact, he liked eggs. So that wasn't the problem. What bothered Abe was what happened as he was approaching the eggs. As he swam closer, two of the eggs began stirring only to pop and hatch, rapidly growing into full sized Sammaels. The slender blue male quickly hid until the two demons passed. But why… Why did they only hatch two at a time? It was reasonable to assume the eggs were all lain at once so wouldn't they generally hatch all at once? Yet, the rest of the eggs seemed completely undeveloped… Abe gasped as he recalled something he'd read while originally researching Sammael.

The blue male swam as quickly as his finned legs would allow. The moment he reached the surface he activated his communicator. "Red! What ever you do, don't destroy that Sammael!" He warned frantically. There was a long silence and Abe was beginning to doubt Hellboy got his message. Just as he was about to repeat it, the communicator came to life with Hellboy's voice.

"Aww, crap… Why, Blue?"

"For every one that dies, another two are reborn! We need to destroy the immature eggs first or we will only end up with an infinite number of these creatures roaming the streets and sewers!" Abe replied. That was followed by another silence, though if one listened carefully enough he was certain he could probably hear Hellboy's string of curses echoing the alleys.

"Well, that makes two more Stinkys. We can handle that, right?" Hellboy asked, trying to be optimistic.

"Ah, actually… it makes four, counting the one Liz and I defeated." As he spoke another realization dawned on him and he sighed heavily into the communicator. "Brother Red… I believe I need backup. Now." He stated all too calmly for the situation.

**TBC…**


	2. Chapter Two: Cleanup

**Chapter Two: Cleanup**

"Crap!" Red cursed into the communicator. "Hang in there, Blue! We're comin'!"

"Yes, I'll try." Abe said before crawling out of the water entirely. Luckily, he moved just in time to avoid snapping jaws that had been poised to snap his legs off in one bite. He somersaulted elegantly and rolled easily into a standing position. Two of the beasts attempted to leap out of the manhole at the same time, getting stuck. They thrashed momentarily as Abe could do nothing but watch and wait for Hellboy and Liz. One of the tongues lashed out and captured the fish man, knocking him to the ground and dragging him to the hole. Abe squirmed and shot the tongue a few times, severing it from the beast. Unfortunately, by this time, the two Sammaels had managed to free themselves from their cramped space. Abe made a soft sound equivalent to an 'eep' as the monster pounced on him and began to thrash his small lithe body.

Three shots rang out and the attacking Sammael was sent sprawling on the ground next to Abe. The fish man quickly scurried to his feet and behind his large red savior to inspect his wounds and load his pistol.

"Ya alright there Blue?" Hellboy asked, keeping his eyes trained on the recovering Sammael.

"Y-yes." The Icthyo Sapien responded as he prodded one of the bleeding wounds, testing how deep it was. He directed his attention back to the scene at hand. "We need to destroy the eggs before we take care of the developed Sammaels." He explained. "Red, allow me to use your trench coat to gather the eggs and bring them to the surface so Liz can burn them."

Hellboy sighed heavily and even groaned, looking like a reluctant child. After a few moments of trying to come up with a substitute to his coat he stripped it off and tossed it at Abe. "I want that back, Abe. In ONE piece! Ya hear me?"

Abe nodded and waved Hellboy's comments off with a webbed hand. "Yes, yes." He spoke as he rolled the coat up in his arms and headed for the manhole.

"Dammit Abe, I'm serious!" Hellboy growled as he shot an attacking Sammael distractedly, keeping most of his attention on Abe.

Abe turned to him with a polite little bow and spoke, "Not to worry. I will treat it as if it were a part of myself." He spoke with a slightly dramatic flair before waving one hand and dropping into the water.

Before Hellboy could quip about how thrashed Abe's body was, the amphibious creature had plunged into the water.

Swimming with ease through the rancid water, the slender male reached the nest once more. He unfurled the coat and began scooping the small eggs up making sure not to miss a single one. The Icthyo Sapien made sure to remain aware of his surroundings. There were still two unaccounted for Sammaels swimming about that he would rather not tangle with.

Hellboy's body collided with a wall and he slipped down into a sitting position on the floor with an agitated growl. "Ya see… this whole 'don't kill it' thing is a big pain in my ass." Red snarled while flopping out of the way just before Sammael lunged at him. He hauled off and slammed his stone fist into the monster's ribs, letting out yet another frustrated sound. "Lemme ask ya a question, Liz. How are we supposed to kill something that can't die? Have we thought about that?"

"Well, we could rely on the same method used to seal Sammael prior to his release." Abe's voice broke the sounds of struggling and angry grunts as he surfaced with the coat full of eggs. "We could seal him within another hollowed statue of the Saint Dionysius." The blue fish man gently dumped the eggs in the street, allowing Liz to burn them without harming Hellboy's precious trench coat.

"Oh? And were are we going to get one on such short notice? Ya know, I don't exactly keep one in my pocket for emergency use." Came Hellboy's sarcastic reply.

"Mm, no, I would think not. However, I have planned ahead in the unlikely event that you may fail to eliminate him."

"Planned ahead? In case I fail?" Hellboy repeated, turning fully to face the slender blue fish man with an angry glare, rage burning in his golden eyes. "You don't have faith in me, Blue?"

"That is not at all what I said."

"Ya didn't have to! Just considering I couldn't do it is enough!"

"Ah, Red—" Abe began, lifting a webbed finger to point behind Hellboy.

"No, you're not getting outta this one, Blue." Hellboy growled, ignoring the finger, waving his own about angrily as he spoke. "I can't believe you don't have faith in me!"

"Red, you should—" Abe tried again but was once more cut off by Red.

"I'm not done chewing you out yet!" Hellboy was on the verge of shouting to overpower Abe's voice, not that that took much effort. But just then he felt the three prongs of the long tongue wrap around his ankle and yank his leg out from under him, sending him to the ground with a loud 'thump'. "Ow…" Hellboy groaned and rolled over, earning him a heavy clawed foot to his gut. "Crap! That's it! I'm sick and tired of you!" Hellboy yelled into Sammy's face and fired off the last few bullets in the gun into Sammael's face, then proceeded to throw the twitching monster off to the side for the time being.

When Hellboy returned to his feet he sent another irate glare in Blue's direction. "Why didn't you tell me he was getting ready to get me?"

"Mn… I did try but you wouldn't allow me to finish. And to clear up any misunderstandings, I wasn't putting your abilities down, I was merely worried about Sammael's. The whole 'Hound of Resurrection' thing leads me to believe he won't stay dead. You know, just a hunch." He said with a soft laugh, gills flaring slightly. His laugh was cut short as he whirled around, sensing trouble.

Sure enough, the next sound to reach their ears was Liz's scream of pain. Another of the Sammaels got her from behind as she was disposing of the eggs. That put three above ground and one still unaccounted for.

Before either of the boys could act, Liz's eyes were glowing angrily and her body erupted in flames that soon engulfed the attacking Sammael. She was mumbling something crossly under her breath as the Sammael burned leaving nothing but ash. Unfortunately, her flames didn't stop there. They only continued to spread outward from her body quickly swallowing up Hellboy and licking at Abe's skin. The fish man flinched away from the fire, backpedaling as hastily as he could away from the flames.

"L-Liz!" He spluttered urgently, not looking forward to the feeling of that heat surrounding his water-faring skin. Learning what it was like to be a grilled fish platter was actually on his 'Daily Things to Avoid' list. Nictating membranes closed tightly followed by his main set of eyelids, already feeling the water evaporating from his body finding himself trapped by the flames.

Hellboy reached Liz through the flames and gently put an arm around her. "They're gone, Liz. You can stop now." He said calmly to her and the flames faded from her eyes. The surrounding fire was extinguished and she collapsed into Hellboy's arms, unconscious.

The large red demon sighed and held the unconscious woman in his arms protectively. His yellow eyes scanned the scene, checking on Abe and looking at the charred concrete as well as the three piles of ash left behind by the three Sammaels. "Clean up on aisle two." Red gently stroked Liz's long dark hair as he stood took her back to the truck with Abe.

**TBC…**


	3. Chapter Three: Red Alert

**Chapter Three: Red Alert**

Dark eyes opened slowly, letting in the bright blinding lights. The owner of the eyes hissed softly and quickly snapped them closed once more. It took several minutes before she attempted to open them again to be met once again with the blinding white light. The first thoughts that graced her foggy mind were _'So bright… but I don't remember dying…'_ When her eyes finally adjusted she realized she was lying on a bed in the BPRD clinic.

Liz lifted her head and looked around, drawing the attention of Hellboy who had been sitting by her side. "Mornin' Liz." He said and put down the magazine he'd been flipping through to pass the time. Her eyes landed on his singed coat and memories swam back into her mind.

"Oh, HB… I did it again." Her features twisted into a miserable frown. "I really thought I was learning to control it."

"Well, you know how the saying goes; Two steps forward, one step back." Said Abe's voice from across the room. Liz's eyes drew across the room until the met Abe, bobbing in his medical tank covered in little devices designed to speed up his healing. The young pyro attempted to brace herself on her elbows only to crash back to the bed with a soft yelp.

"Hey, careful there. Sammy broke your arm just before you lost it. You're gonna be outta commission for a while." Hellboy said matter of factly.

"But—!" Liz began to protest but was cheerfully cut off by Abe.

"Don't worry, you won't be alone in your confinement. I will be here to keep you company." Abe said as if trying to make the best of things then his voice dropped somewhat, verbally frowning. "Well, rather… you have more freedom than I do." He said waving a hand fluidly to indicate the glass surrounding him and his limited space.

Hellboy put his more normal hand on Liz's uninjured shoulder. "I can handle things alone for a while." He said proudly. As if on cue, the alarm began sounding. Hellboy stood and rushed out of the clinic leaving Liz and Abe to mend.

Liz worked her way off the bed and began to pace around the room like a trapped animal. After a few minutes she gave a frustrated sigh and leaned against a wall unoccupied by instruments or machines. "I can't stand being cooped up like this!"

"Mm." Abe agreed, not bothering to state the obvious that she wasn't truly 'cooped up' she just simply couldn't fight. She was free to go where she pleased. She moved to Blue's tank and slumped against it, looking up at him from the floor. Her dark eyes were skimming over each cut and abrasion marring his soft blue skin, wondering absently if they hurt.

"Yes, but the pain isn't beyond ignorable. Yours is far worse." Abe commented, one of his webbed hands was resting against the glass, fingers spread. His head was tilted slightly to the side and the nictating membranes were closed over his eyes but his lids remained open.

"Oh, get out of my head, Abe." She said softly, truly not caring at the moment.

"I apologize." He said just as softly and pulled his hand away from the glass.

"No… It's just…" But she didn't finish the sentence.

"You would like to keep your privacy. I understand. Sometimes it's just easier to look into someone's thoughts than attempt to interpret their words."

"But see… Sometimes people don't want you to know."

"Hm." Abe mulled that over for a moment before speaking, genuinely curious. "Do you often hide things from me?"

"Well, yes." She replied immediately then shook her head. "I mean. Not like that just… Sometimes. It isn't just you. I'm more likely to tell you than anyone. But Abe, some thoughts need to be strictly private."

"I think I understand." He said with and slowly glided to the back of his small tank.

"What about you? It is unfair that you can read our minds but we can't dig into yours, you know."

"I guess I never thought of it like that." He replied thoughtfully and thought back to the moment in the alleyway when he was holding Liz. "I suppose I do hide things from you as well." He admitted. Then he wondered about something; if he could read other's minds, could he not, in essence, give them thoughts of his own in return? He would ponder this more thoroughly later.

"Abe, is it just me or are things a little too quiet?" Liz asked, slowly standing up once more.

"Now that you mention it…" Abe nodded.

Liz crept to the door and opened it to look out into the hallway. There was no one there. Not a single agent or doctor, which was slightly unusual. Dark eyes swept over every inch of the hallway looking for anything odd or at least slightly out of the ordinary. Her eyes caught a small puddle of glistening red on the floor near a corner. Liz pulled the heavy door shut and locked its many locks. She rushed to do the same to the other doors.

"Liz?" Abe asked curiously.

"Something's definitely not right. You're in no condition to fight and I'm weaponless, plus my main arm is wrecked. We need to contact someone who knows what's going on."

Abe's triple lids blinked fully a few times, trying to consider any logical explanations for the situation. "But Liz…" He didn't need to say it. She nodded. Things don't usually break INTO the BPRD they tend to break OUT. So what could the problem be?

Just as Liz shut the last door something heavy slammed into it and tried to yank it open. She slid the first lock into place hastily and stepped away from the door. She looked around worriedly. There were too many HIGHLY flammable substances in this room to use her fire as a weapon. Chemicals and drugs and other materials could cause an explosion large enough to effectively kill both of them and set half the place on fire.

She rushed over to the table holding most of her gear and located the headset. She clicked it on and tried to get a hold of Hellboy. "HB? Are you there?"

"Liz?" Came the crackled reply of Hellboy.

"Where are you?" She asked.

"In the truck." Was his baffled reply.

"There's something attacking the clinic. I think it's already killed. I saw blood."

Hellboy was speechless for a while. Presumably yelling at the truck driver to turn them around and go back to the BPRD headquarters. But in the time it took him to return his attention to Liz, she had dropped the communicator.

Through the door burst Sammael, snarling, drooling, and angry. Liz had to dodge flying debris from the door and frame, dropping the communicator. Sammael rushed at her, his breath reeking of blood and rotten flesh. She managed to roll out of the way of the flailing limbs, striking the table instead and throwing it off to the side. There was a shattering sound behind her that she ignored until she heard the rush of water and Abe's muffled sound of surprise. The table had collided powerfully into the tank. Normally, one could throw a table, or any other object and only scratch the five inch thick glass, but Sammael's strength was too much for the material. It cracked away from the wall, letting all the water spill out onto the floor. Perhaps it was a blessing to Abe, but the glass, being as powerful as it was, didn't shatter. On the down side, he was now trapped inside the damaged tank. Something above the tank collapsed and sealed the top. The crack in the seam of the tank was only half an inch wide, making it impossible for him to slip through, obviously.

Abe tried to push the large pane of glass out of the way but it wouldn't budge. His large dark blue eyes lifted to meet Liz's shocked eyes. "Liz, get out of here!" He yelled through the glass as Sammael charged her again.

Liz ran as instructed to do but slipped on the wet floor. She used it to her advantage. As she was sliding, she managed to snatch the communicator again before unsteadily rushing to her feet and exiting the clinic. She knew she couldn't free Abe. They were both better off if she could get to Hellboy.

Sammael got distracted by Abe. The monster just seemed to have a thing for fish. Especially when the fish smelled of fresh blood and fear. He desperately tried to break through the glass so he could eat the cornered fish man. Abe pressed to the back of the tank just in case and willed the glass to stay put. He currently had no way to defend himself against this creature.

**TBC…**


	4. Chapter Four: Persistence

**AN**: Thank you for the reviews! Honestly, I didn't think I would get any, being such an amateur to this fandom.

**igbogal**: Thank you! I love hot fudge! I've been worrying slightly about the character development. I'm afraid I'm going to botch it up. And Thank you! I've always wondered if mindreading characters ever realized how unfair it was to others. I mean, they're so used to it that they don't realize it's an invasion of privacy. I won't leave ya hanging… for long. O.O You would be my beta? Please.

**sapienlover**: Thank you and yes, I know what you mean. I love bringing up Abe's blue skin. Lol. I know I do it too much but I just love his skin! When I say small and frail, I mean he just looks frail and breakable. He's so thin, making him appear to be frail. I don't actually think he's frail though. XD I agree, I think he's pretty strong. It's obvious he's pretty much solid muscle.

**Chapter Four: Persistence  
**

Liz slipped and slid through the halls, trying to make her way to a weapons locker. She skidded to a stop and quickly located a hand gun and ammo. When she finished loading the gun and packing backup bullets she started towards the clinic again. She couldn't have been gone more than ten minutes but when she returned both Abe and Sammael were gone. The glass that had been protecting Abe had been torn away from the rest of the tank. There were small streaks of blue blood mingled with the water, but that didn't necessarily mean anything, she told herself. Abe was wounded from the beginning. He could have torn open one of his earlier wounds while escaping.

She followed the wet puddles on the floor out of the clinic and down a hall. She approached a corner and held her gun up, ready to fire as she whipped around the corner, flush to the wall. A large dark figure was in her vision and she aimed the weapon at its head. As she did so, she hears an almost girlish scream and saw papers flying everywhere. She lowered her weapon and focused her eyes on none other than Director Manning. She could swear the man had wet himself as he'd thrown the folder he was holding and cowered.

"What… are you doing?" He demanded angrily then quickly attempted to scoop up the papers. He looked up at her and noted she was holding the gun awkwardly in her left hand, as the other was in a cast. "You're supposed to be healing! And why are you waving that gun around?"

"You know your super safe facility? It's not all that safe after all." She snapped. "Sammael broke in somehow. Abe's missing."

Manning was confused. Usually it was Hellboy that went 'missing' and he hadn't really done so since Liz returned. If the fish man started pulling those stunts now, he didn't know what he'd do. After considering that, he realized what else Liz had said. "S-Sammael?! That giant… thing? I-I-It's here? H-How?" He demanded. The next thing Liz knew, Manning was huddling behind her.

Liz sighed heavily and turned to face Manning. "Just come on." She said and waved him on. Her entire body was tense. She wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of using her fire again after what happened last time. At least with Hellboy around she had the comforting idea that he would stop her before she could hurt anyone. Right now, she was alone because Manning wouldn't be much help at all.

The comm. device Liz had taken with her chirped to life with Hellboy's voice. "Liz, I'm back. Where are you?"

"One corridor adjacent to the clinic." She replied.

"Right. I'll meet you there." Then the channel cut.

Liz pressed up against a wall and waited. Hellboy would be here soon and things would start looking better. She hadn't seen any sign of Abe outside of the clinic but refused to believe he'd be eaten by that thing. Sammael was fast and strong and close to impossible to get rid of for good, it seemed, but Abe was Abe. He wouldn't be killed by something he'd faced so many times before. Soon her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of heavy boots clunking against the dark marble floor. It was the familiar sound of Hellboy approaching. In no time at all she saw her big red friend and smiled somewhat.

Hellboy's rough features scrunched into a befuddled expression as his yellow eyes landed on Manning. "Hey, where's Blue? If you traded him somewhere, I think you got the sour end of the deal." He implied an insult to Manning who spluttered something incoherent.

Liz shook her head and the worry returned to her eyes. "HB… Abe and Sammael disappeared."

"Aww, Blue…" Hellboy groaned and slumped slightly, looking like a child.

Liz was amazed that it seemed like not a single thought of the possibility that Abe had died crossed Hellboy's mind. If it had, he would have definitely expressed it rather than looking like a child that had just been told he had to eat his vegetables before he could have dessert. She felt vaguely comforted by that. She smiled softly at her old friend as he checked his gun for bullets then clicked the chamber closed again.

Manning rolled his eyes at the gung-ho Hellboy and muttered something Liz couldn't hear. She shook her head and muffled a soft laugh.

They started to comb the halls for any signs of the monster or Abe. It didn't take long for them to find signs of Sammael but still lacking definite signs of their slender blue friend. It appeared that the creature had been in the laboratory. Curiously enough, it looked more like he broke out of the laboratory rather than entered it. The door had been smashed outward. The three cautiously made their way into the destroyed room. Thousands of dollars in equipment lay in ruins along with a few dead scientists. Liz grimaced as her eyes drew over one of the bodies, or what was left of it.

"Hey, how many of those eggs did Abe bring back from the subway?" Hellboy asked from a far corner of the room.

"Uh… T-two or three. Why do you ask?" The reply came from a very disturbed Manning. He clearly wasn't used to this carnage yet. He wasn't big on field work.

Hellboy pointed his gun at the container on the floor. Something had exploded from inside it. Hellboy could guess exactly what that had been. "When we destroyed the eggs in the sewer, it looks like we forgot about these ones here."

"Then… there's more than one in the facility." Liz filled in the blanks quickly and seemed even more unsettled.

"I-I don't like this." Manning stated in a quivering voice.

"Yeah, get used to it." Hellboy simply replied. He was sneaking towards a door with his gun raised at the ready. "We got company." He pushed the ajar door completely open and saw slime dripping from the roof.

Sammael was hanging from the ceiling, gnawing on a scientist. Its head turned when the door creaked open and he looked right into Hellboy's amber eyes with a growl. He jerked himself free from the ceiling and dropped down, being met with Hellboy's fist and several shots to the head at point blank range.

"I'm sick," Hellboy fired another shot into it. "and tired of you!" Hellboy shouted over the loud screams of the creature. "This whole 'resurrection' thing is getting really annoying!" Sammael chomped down onto Hellboy's arm leaving a few deep puncture wounds but Red smashed him into the back wall of the tiny room breaking the beast's hold.

As long as the creature was in the closet Liz thought she could contain the fire and keep from blowing things up. "HB—"

"Yeah, do it Liz." He replied, not needing for her to ask if she could.

Liz muttered under her breath her little chant. "The fire is not my enemy. The fire is part of me. The fire is mine." She had to be careful not to let it get too large. Just enough to burn Sammael. If it escaped into the lab the flammable chemicals would catch as well.

Sammael screeched and tried to throw himself against Hellboy to get out of the flames but Red didn't let him pass. "I don't think so, Ugly." Hellboy watched as the demon slowly burned to ashes then the flames were doused.

Hellboy turned to Liz with a little smile. "I think this is getting easier."

Liz half smirked. "For you, maybe."

Manning wasn't amused. He was still shaken up from the experience. He looked around Hellboy to the pile of cinders just to make sure it was dead, letting a shaky sigh slip past his lips. A heavy hand clapped him on the back and he nearly jumped out of his skin but it was Hellboy.

"Hey, what's the matter, Manning? Too much for ya?" He laughed and walked past the terrified man. "Let's go find Blue and take care of the rest of 'em."

**TBC…**

**AN**: I don't think I wrote Manning right. His stuttering and constant whining annoys me. Anyway, chapter five is already half done but I'm not sure I like how it's progressing. So if it's not up fairly soon that means I wiped it and started rewriting it.


	5. Chapter Five: Escape

**AN**: Short, crappy chapter. I apologize. I will reply to reviews in the next chapter. I'm having problems with RL so updates will be really slow because I don't have the time or will to write.

**Chapter Five: Escape**

Voices could be heard echoing down the hall. The loudest one was obviously male, and if he listened hard enough, he could tell it was Hellboy. The other was female. It had to be Liz. He found it somewhat ironic that he was so close, yet completely out of reach.

The Icthyo Sapien was pinned under a heavy bulkhead. It was compressing his lungs making it hard to breathe. That made it difficult to draw in a deep enough breath to call out to the voices he heard down the hall. The communicator was just out of reach, not to mention he only had one free arm on the opposite side of the communicator. Perhaps if his other arm had been free he could have reached it easily. He thought about the highlights of his situation. The way the bulkhead had fallen, the beast couldn't get into the room to hurt him. So he was safe… well, safe from the creature.

Sammael paced just outside of the room. His prey was just on the other side of the door but that thing he'd knocked over was blocking the door now. He could almost taste the distress from his pray in the air. Then he heard more pray… Quickly, Sammael abandoned his old pray to go after this new pray.

Abe heard the voices growing distant and struggled. They were moving away. He pushed as much strength as he possibly could in his weakened state into moving the bulkhead off of his injured body but it just wouldn't budge. He looked down at his compressed chest and saw the edges of the healing equipment still attached to his body. With his free arm he began to break it away from his chest and tried to work it out from under the bulkhead. It gave him a bit more room to breath when it was gone. He started twisting the wires together into a sturdy long braid. With only one hand to work with this took a while. Eventually he had a nice long rod made of the wires. He used it to extend his reach and pulled the communicator close enough to pick up.

By now, the voices had been gone for a while. He'd heard the Sammael screaming, leading him to believe they'd defeated it. Abe held the communicator up, speaking breathily into it. "Liz…?" His voice sounded unbearably weak to his own ears.

"Abe! Where are you?" Liz replied over the crackled radio.

"An office down a few halls from the clinic. You were close before. I could hear your voices." Abe hadn't exactly been looking where he was running. He was just running from the creature trying to eat him. He didn't have the entire BPRD headquarters mapped out in his mind. He never needed to be down here so he didn't think he needed to know the schematics.

Hellboy nodded as he listened through his communicator and they started back towards the previous hall they had occupied when they met up to start looking. He noted Liz's relieved sigh and smiled. She'd obviously been overly worried about Blue. Hellboy knew better. In all the years he'd known Abe, he'd leaned just how hard it was to kill him. He'd seen just how much damage the seemingly fragile man could take and it was obvious he wouldn't die against something like Sammael. If Ogopogo and that eight hundred foot fall onto jagged rocks couldn't kill him then Sammael certainly couldn't.(1)

"We'll be there soon, Abe." Liz said over the communicator.

After a brisk walk and some exploring they located their trapped amphibious friend. Things seemed to be looking up for the trio, turned quartet… for now.

Manning stood back in the hallway as Liz inspected Abe for the possibility of puncture wounds or breaks that could possibly worsen if the bulkhead was removed recklessly. Finding none she gave Hellboy the 'go ahead'.

Their large red demon friend wrapped his arms around the bulkhead and looked down at Abe. "Ready, Blue?"

"As I'll ever be." Abe replied with a weak chuckle and braced himself; ready to roll out of the way then the bulkhead was lifted. Hearing that, Hellboy lifted the broken bulkhead. Abe slid himself out from under it and Hellboy lowered it back to the ground. The hulking demon extended his normal hand and helped his friend back to his webbed feet.

Manning peered into the room curiously having heard the scraping sounds and Hellboy grunting. When he saw everyone standing he tried to wave them out of the room. "Y-yes, we're glad you're fine, Agent Sapien. Now could we please go back to killing these things?" Manning asked worriedly. The man had been extremely paranoid since he found out there was more than one Sammael inside.

Just then everything went black as night. The soft humming of various machines and equipment slowly faded out to silence. Obviously, the power had gone out somehow. Hellboy suspected Sammael had something to do with this. His annoyed growl interrupted the silence.

"This is a Federal building and you're telling me it doesn't have back-up generators?" Liz's voice broke the silence after Hellboy's growl.

"Oh, it does. Just… give them a minute." Manning replied, hiding behind Hellboy. But in order to do that he had to feel him out first, leaving for a funny sight when the lights actually did flicker back on. Manning had a hand on Hellboy's chest and the other on his back while Hellboy still wore a slightly annoyed look.

Liz handed Blue her gun and the extra clips she packed since he was completely unarmed. She was always armed so given the situation, she didn't need it as much as he did. She couldn't help but continue to scan his body looking over his injuries. Her face was creased with worry when her eyes met the reopened wounds and the obvious bruises covering his usually soft blue chest.

"Liz, one doesn't have to be a mind reader to tell you're over analyzing my wounds. I promise, I'm fine." He said sweetly and put a hand on her shoulder. "Please don't worry so much about me."

"O-oh! I didn't—I mean…" She stuttered and noticed everyone was staring at her. She'd been standing in the doorway looking over Abe while everyone was waiting for her to move out of the way. "Sorry." She said quickly and moved. Hellboy chuckled softly as he walked past her. He was abruptly cut off when a voice came over the comm.

"I-is anybody there?" It was a male voice and he sounded just short of traumatized.

"Red here. Where are you?" Hellboy replied.

"I-I… Th-this thing… it jumped through the wall… it killed two people… I followed it through the security cameras… it… it got out."

"It got out?" Hellboy repeated to himself at first then realization dawned on him. "What do you mean 'it got out'? Hey, buddy!" He shouted into the mic.

"It's… it's outside." That was the best reply he would get out of the man.

"Oh no…" Hellboy said with a heavy sigh.

**AN**: (1) Referring to a scene from the Hellboy comic/chapter "Box Full of Evil". The only one I've actually read. Hellboy makes reference in the end of the chapter to an incident in the past dealing with the 'Canadian Loch Ness' called Ogopogo, saying he knew Abe was VERY hard to kill so he wasn't worried about Abe's injuries.


End file.
